Optimize your meta description for SEO
Optimize your meta description for SEO
1. Create a meta description for every page you expect to drive valuable search traffic.
If you use WordPress, the free version of the Yoast SEO plug-in can help you add meta descriptions to your webpages. You don’t need to create meta descriptions for unimportant pages like Privacy Policy. For other CMSs, check if there is a plugin that enables you to easily add meta elements to your pages. Alternatively, ask your development team to add dedicated fields in the backend for meta elements, in the form of structured data.
2. Make each description unique to avoid duplicate content.
Using the same content makes it harder for search engines to determine which page to include or exclude from their index, and which page to rank higher.
3. Incorporate keywords relating to your page content into the meta description.
Write naturally but try to incorporate your primary keyword or a close variation.
4. Stick to between 135 and 160 characters.
Meta descriptions longer than 160 characters will get truncated by search engines; those shorter than 135 don’t make the most of the available real estate on the search engine results page.
5. Use active voice and include a call to action.
Think of your meta description as an advertisement for your webpage. Use action or power words to drive user traffic. Include a call to action to encourage users to click such as, Get answers here!.
6. If relevant, add schema markup to get rich snippets in addition to your meta descriptions.
This can include information about your products, if you’re ecommerce, or star ratings for reviews. Ask your developer to implement schema markup for all the content types in your CMS.